• Question: have any studies you've investigated or stories you have heard affected you mentally?

    Asked by anon-204906 to Sally, Lucy, Louise, James, David, Dan on 4 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Lucy Maddox

      Lucy Maddox answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      Things I am told by people and things I read about definitely affect me. Sometimes I feel really sad because of bad things that have happened to people and which can’t be changed now. I think it’s only human to feel moved by hearing people’s stories and I guess I would probably worry more if I didn’t feel affected. The flip side to feeling really sad about bad stuff that has happened to people is I also often feel really wow-ed by how brave and courageous people are at working on trying to turn difficult situations around.

    • Photo: Dan Taylor

      Dan Taylor answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      I think this can be common across sciences, but I think it’s particularly important in Psychology – its dealing with people after all, and if you don’t like people, then why study psychology? I definitely find when people talk about negative or scary experiences they’ve had it makes me sad, there is this urge to help, but often it can be too late. Not being able to do something can be really upsetting or frustrating at times! But what I would say is being able to participate in the joy of really positive experiences is incredibly fascinating and rewarding!

    • Photo: Sally Tilt

      Sally Tilt answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      Yes. As part of my job I read about crimes that people have carried out and also talk to people about their offences and their lives. Quite often this makes me feel sad, and sometimes it is difficult not to think about it later on.

      Part of being a psychologist is to notice how you are feeling in yourself – and it is important that I have people that I can speak to who understand the work that I do. I make sure that I have time in my week to think through anything that is ‘stuck’ in my head, and have some ways to relax and sort through my thoughts.

      I’ve also heard people talk about their positive stories and have been amazed by the changes that have occurred between the person that they described that they used to be, and the person who is sitting in front of me today. That really encourages me and these stories can also get ‘stuck in my head’ in a positive way.

    • Photo: David Chadwick

      David Chadwick answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      Many years ago I watched a film about the experiments that the Nazis carried out on humans in their concentration camps. This deeply affected me, as I could not understand how they could do such inhuman experiments.

      But when I look back on it now, I see that some of the experiments that we do today on mice and monkeys are just as inhuman as the ones the Nazis performed in the 1940s.

    • Photo: James Munro

      James Munro answered on 10 Mar 2019:

      Hey orange,

      Yes. I once worked with a woman who experienced lifelong unexplained seizures (fits) every day. The doctors had no idea, no treatments worked long term. Everything in her life was so intensely bothered by this condition that she tried everything she could think of. She tried alternative medicines, she smoked weed, tried hard stuff like heroin (illegally of course). She started thinking it might be spiritual so she tried to make good with gods and spirits. After all of this, a surgeon told her they had found a tumour in her brain that was probably causing it all. Her life was so messed up by that point – addictions and abuse and pain – all caused by a tiny lump about the size of a pea. That freaked me out.

      I once had a student who missed my class because she was rushed to hospital due to her anxiety about the coursework. She hadn’t spoken to anyone, felt behind, and had a big panic attack. As one of her teachers, this felt very bad and it changed a lot of the way I dealt with my lessons and my interactions with students.

      On a more positive note, I have had a small but significant number of thank you cards from participants and students. It feels incredible when a student does brilliantly and tells you that you helped them achieve that. Once I scanned a person who had part of their brain missing – so I informed their doctor. A few months later I received a thank you card because I may have helped save them from huge problems in the future.

      Aye, working with people gets into your heart. One way or another.

    • Photo: Louise Rodgers

      Louise Rodgers answered on 11 Mar 2019:

      Yes, most definitely, which I think is normal because however briefly, I am making relationships with people and they have to go two ways if they are real. But I have to try to stop the effect from overwhelming me by trying to keep a clear boundary in my head between my work and my personal life, and by having routines in place in my life to help me with this. That includes supervision at work (which is when I talk through things I’m working on with a more experienced psychologist), chatting things over more informally with colleagues and having outlets in my free time, like exercise and time with my family.
      Sometimes I really think about a child I’ve worked with if their life is really hard or they’ve had some bad experiences in their early life, and I have to fight the urge to fix everything for them. That’s not my job, but I still think about it a lot.

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